treespotting

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1. the psycho therapist 10.31.06 / 12pm

   I knew I should have just gone to bed and not run over here for a quick look-see. Jesus, when will I ever fully listen to the brilliant voice of intuition?

   This post is superb. I have MANY thoughts on it. I will copy it to mull over and probably email you directly.

   Whoo boy. Good one. I mean, hit the ball out of the park, good.
   …and this is why I love you so…
2. the psycho therapist 10.31.06 / 12pm

   PS There are different degrees of awareness, awakeness, evolutionary trajectory to take into account, too, eh?
3. jo 10.31.06 / 2pm

   i’m leaning towards a combination of two theories. different people have different outputs and some people experience life slower / faster than others. boring probably isn’t a disorder. it’s a disease.
4. ChickyBabe 10.31.06 / 5pm

   I believe the answer lies in why you write, not if one life is more important than another. And quality is better than quantity when it comes to the written word.
5. treespotter 10.31.06 / 8pm

   the therapist: got your mail. you should’ve put it here
   You’re saying that some people really are boring? I’m particularly interested to hear what you think since listening is what you do for a living.

   jo: that’s a bit far, but i wouldn’t argue against it.

   chickybabe: the quality is more the skill in articulation, but the overall quantity of output/input should be equal, or not?
6. weakties 10.31.06 / 10pm

   nice post. my comment:

   1. writing needs skill and the distribution of the skill is not uniform; a highly skilled pin maker produces more pins everyday, not just better pins.
   (assuming the cost is low, which i thing is the case for writing.)

   2. not all experiences have equal value to the mind. you write about something when you have something to say about them (see alphonse bertillon’s quote up there). so inputs are filtered.
7. treespotter 10.31.06 / 10pm

   Thanks weakties. Very true for both points, but really, please don’t misunderstand me, all, i’m not at all judging or making assumption of the writing qualities.

   i’m merely noting on the need to process and react to input.

   if it’s filtered, then it is indeed, being kept inside, yes?
8. weakties 10.31.06 / 10pm

   “if it’s filtered, then it is indeed, being kept inside, yes?”

   yes, it can be
   or just throw it away, ignore it.
   (maybe that’s why having something to say is prized so much; see the opinion question in beauty pageants – because the easiest way is just to throw it away).
9. Sam 10.31.06 / 10pm

   You told me to not mail you, but post long replies. Here you go.. It is an intresting subject you touch. I used to wonder about this too Ace. When I was 16 I wondered how it could be that there could be kids my age who would enjoy hanging out at the same spot on the school court every afternoon, every day of the week, without getting bored. After a while they would run out of conversation material, right? It didn’t seem like the kind of people that reads newspapers so I didn’t expect them to be talking about the news..

   I grew up in Rotterdam, I believe one of the biggest harborcities in Europe, and probably the world too. You can actually read it in the faces of the typical inhabitants; there are a lot of greyfaced people there. I often wondered how they could be so depressed in the way they looked out of their eyes, did they never get excited, or -for instance- smile? What where these people thinking of that made them look so down..

   I never wanted to become like the boring kids, hanging on their scooters in the schoolcourt. I decided I didn’t want to to become like the depressed guy in the underground that seemed to stare into infinity with a look as if his mental capacity was no better than the worn-out shoes he had around his tired feet. I would never become like them; I would move around, and I would do things. Look where it got me now. No idea if that makes a person intresting though. I think it’s to other things that do have a big influence:

   1) the need for cognition
   2) the ability to express

   Psychology learned me it’s not about what you do that makes you the person that experiences less (or at least till a certain extent), but it’s about your personality. Some people just have a low need for cognition; they don’t feel like observing and evaluating what happens around them, about the deeper meaning of things and the of why relations. Low need for cognition is, I think, partly your answer.

   You touch the subject of communication. I think this gives you another part of your answer. Some people don’t know how to put the things they feel or the experiences they have into words. Some of them put them into image, like arts, some into sound, like music, some put them into sports others in violence, and others in drinking because they can’t ventilate it in any other way.. I think most of us use several ways of expressing their feelings or dealing with their questions. I don’t possess the same virtue as you do if it comes to describing things in a compelling way, although I sometimes I hope I have a talent for it.

   Boring persons used to be one of my favorite subjects. Did you ever wonder what the best friend of a boring person would be like? How would this person describe his friend? Is a boring person just a matter of perception? Can others thing you are a boring person too?
10. treespotter 10.31.06 / 10pm

    weakties: hmm… yes, only i don’t really think we throw anything away.i do think we do have a system of keeping in track of all our experiences – memories. they’re just piled up in different priorities and somethings were never to surface again. but its presence adds to the bulk.

    me think.
11. sa 10.31.06 / 11pm

    cookies for the first person to use the word ’syntactic’ and ’semantic’

    bonus bonies for the first one to bring Wittgenstein/Occam and make our host here very happy
12. treespotter 10.31.06 / 11pm

    sam: really, that’s one of the best comment ever. Very good observation. i totally agree with you that it’s not really the quality – since they indeed have other means like music etc.

    i find it interesting too, that the medium plays a very major role, despite -sometimes- the obvious. some fellow bloggers for example, would feel ’safer’ or ‘easier’ emailing me their thoughts rather than putting it into the comment in public – not because it’s offensive, but really because they would like to remain ‘anonymous’ – in a way, they inhibit the same problems in communicating as they would in real life.

    boring person are interesting to observe, don’t that make them not boring anymore?

    LOL, check out this site.

    and sammy: you’re not getting any cookies for playin smartarse.
13. sa 10.31.06 / 11pm

    i forgot Russel. your strange fetish.
14. Sam 10.31.06 / 11pm

    How about the difference between semantic and central processing of impulses from outside?

    Ever wondered why the woman on the hood of a car makes the car sell better? It’s not because of the description of what is under the hood.

    Maybe the way you process information makes you boring to someone who is not on your wave-length. I would find it pretty boring to report on sports at this point.
15. ace 10.31.06 / 11pm

    sam: what if i don’t take the bait?

    for me, it totally depends on what’s under the hood. if it’s hot enough, she’ll jump in anyway.

    I agree with the statement, of course, this is highly likely to be true assuming you can make observation about how one process information.

    of course that assumption may or maynot be true, so to me at least, it leaves only to observe the generated output to make the assessment, right?

    (big smirk with the word ‘assumptions’ – to the lesbian neighbours)
16. Sam 11.1.06 / 12am

    Assumptions.. it’s a theory so.. yes,. you are right.

    I’d look to the girl on the hood. Only because I don’t know anything about what’s under the hood, which makes it pointless to make a decission based on arguments like Horsepowers. I will more likely chose a car that I think drives nice, looks nice, and if I have to think about the costs, is economic in the use of fuel.

    I love the blog you mention. I am sure that it takes a very NOT dull person to make up posts like that.

    BTW: Did you find your phones back? Or is something else you lost?
17. weakties 11.1.06 / 12am

    hmm interesting, i want to add again.

    writing is a meaningful activity. we put meaning into it (kdjhg4%$# is not writing). we can impute meaning if we can make sense of it.

    memories are jumbles of things. we call something experiences if we can make senses of them. true it is always there but it’s practically nonexistent if we can’t make sense of it.

    you need to ventilate something if you know and understand that thing i.e. if they make sense.

    for example, someone yelled f*** off to my grandpa (because he was to slow in a traffic light) and he just put his straight face because he simply didn’t understand what the meaning of the said words. the experience is there, but it just didn’t register to him: the ‘fuck off’ is the same as ‘oir$%84′ to him, it doesn’t have any meaning.
    (if someone yelled ‘goblog’ instead that it really different matters)

    back to the writing question.
    so my point is the amount of writing does not necessarily reflect the size of experiences
    as you said, you need to process the experience first before deciding whether to ventilate or not.
    only processed experiences that are meaningful and make sense can be ventilated.

    well, it’s very similar to sam’s argument. but i don’t think it only involves cognitive ability; understanding ‘fuck off” or ‘goblog’ needs more than cognitive ability (i have the tendency to stay away from individuals – my bias). culture, norms, habits, institutions matter as well.

    i’d love to quote someone, but i don’t read much.
18. Zen Wizard 11.1.06 / 3am

    Before the hegemony of the Internet, it looked like we were moving toward what I would call a “post literate society”–i.e., very few people READ, even less wrote.

    Juxtapose this presidentially against a president like Thomas Jefferson, for instance. (Well, I guess Carter wrote a lot, but I don’t recall many Gerald Ford letters from France…)

    Now, with the Internet, literacy is back with a vengence. Everyone who is drummer in a band that has a #29 song on the charts spends more time blogging than they do drumming.

    I wonder if the Internet is, on balance, a “good thing”–sort of like I balance out those expensive, electronic handcuffs called, “a cellular phone.”

    I guess maybe all considered, it just barely is…
19. Mr. Fabulous 11.1.06 / 4am

    Not me, brother. There are only 21 hours in my day.

    I can’t tell you why.
20. huniii 11.1.06 / 6am

    wow. what a thought provoker!

    perhaps not one life more valuable than another, just more….full. of stuff.

    but then im a goose.
21. the psycho therapist 11.1.06 / 7am

    Ace, you shit, bless your heart.

    1. I NEVER said anyone was boring and I know you said that to bait.

    2. Directly commenting on this in case it is bait, which it could very well be…
    some fellow bloggers for example, would feel ’safer’ or ‘easier’ emailing me their thoughts rather than putting it into the comment in public – not because it’s offensive, but really because they would like to remain ‘anonymous’ – in a way, they inhibit the same problems in communicating as they would in real life.

    None of which applies to me.
    I was going to email you a dissertation on my complete thoughts after digesting the scope of your offering but will table such things. I sent you the briefest of notes before retiring late last night to acknowledge your brilliance and will continue to follow suit.

    How’s that mirror coming along?
22. Musey 11.1.06 / 10am

    The value of a person’s life isn’t measured by experience. Coming from me, that’s akin to a virgin saying sex is overrated, I know. I suppose I’m saying it because I’m ambivalent about the quality of my own life. Still, I don’t believe that a person is any more or less valuable depending on their experience in comparison to others’; if everyone experienced life at the same pace, it would deprive so many people of the pleasure of categorizing. It’s ridiculous to me how our society can be so focused on the importance of the ’self’, individuality, yet be harshly critical of those who are not like themselves.

    Me having not experienced many of the things other people have sets me back in numerous ways, but it doesn’t negate my capacity to learn the things they know or be what they are, or better. My worth in the scheme of things isn’t measured in the years I did or didn’t attend college, the number of people I have or haven’t fucked, the books I have or haven’t read, or what I do or don’t do for a living. I’m not less valuable because he or she has made more of an impression on someone than I have. In the scheme of things, I’m the only one who has the right to judge the value of my life.

    I believe this, truly. I love people. I think everyone is important in his or her own way, and we’re all vehicles of humanity. Like vehicles, we move at different speeds, have different shapes and colors, and we travel in different lanes.

    I write because that’s my most efficient means of communication. I have lots of things to write about, because lots of things are important to me. If I’m boring–if my output is not significant to you–then don’t read. Label me, measure me if it makes you feel good, but don’t kid yourself into thinking that what you think means a goddamned thing.

    This was a great post. Thank you.
23. ace 11.1.06 / 11am

    sam: i know i sound like i’m making excuses now, but really, life’s pretty crazy hectic shit at the moment.

    as for the girl on the hood, you don’t need to know what’s under the hood. trust me, if it’s good enough, she’ll ride with you. and don’t even think that she would know what’s under. they know these things instinctively.

    weakties: hold on, you misunderstood the whole thing, the whole post – and subsequent follow up by sam says very clearly that it’s not about the quantity/quality of writing. of course it doesn’t, some people generate output differently, music, painting, whatever. you know, not all write. some just talk to friends etc if they’re lucky. as for ‘fuck off’ man, i’ve heard it in many language,

    wizard: now that’s an interesting side of it. i’m doing something there, but that’ll wait a lil. blah! i wish i could write faster!

    mr. fab: i’ve a 32 hours day. seriously.

    hunii: few of us here on this thread would ask you, “what colour?”
    i’m pale.
24. ace 11.1.06 / 11am

    the therapist: Binggo! right on the bull’s eye (LOLOLOLOL).
    actually, the bait was for you, but that quote wasn’t about you, there really was someone – who was responding to my U2 quiz anonymously – i have to disqualify her because she posted comment anonymously, and i can’t go to a U2 concert with an anonymous girl (ninja!) but it makes me wonder why…

    do send me the crystal.

    musey: great comment. glad that you didn’t take it the wrong way.

    perhaps the more important question is how do you measure experience?
25. tere616 11.1.06 / 9pm

    Couldn’t agree more with you Ace. But in my case, sometimes or just like these 2 weeks, there are a lot of things I want to put in writing but the emotion is not there.

    So, am end up by keep it inside. The output is, my migrain which have been hide for a year, suddenly come and knock my front door.

    LOL ….
26. weakties 11.2.06 / 2am

    risking violence, i’ll try to clarify my idea .

    i think, ace and i agree of this process

    experience –> BOX –> output

    the output can be writing, music etc.

    the difference between ace and i is on what inside the box. as i understand, ace thinks what happen in the box is an accumulation process. so releasing output is inevitable when the box is full. because only the accumulation process that is present, the rate of the flow is the only determinant on the amount of writing (recall the original question :”I wonder how some people write more than the others”)

    me: a lot of things going on inside the box. therefore, not only the rate of input but also what mechanisms work inside determine the output.
27. ace 11.2.06 / 4am

    Wow… very true. Very very true…

    *nodding head in agreement*

    but, isn’t it the law of the universe of some sort that the output is equal of the input? the overall value in the system remains (albeit changing forms)?

    but maybe you’re right. this explains a lot about boring people.
28. M 11.2.06 / 5pm

    people see things differently to each other. Some think creatively and find inspiration in the smallest things and others need the big bing. A car driving along the road might be an inspiration to some and nothing much to another. It’s now you see and interact with the world that in turn creates the need to express – it might be a piece of art or music or writing, anything really.. Others need major events in order to break the writing drought.

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